Rebellion
by JAT.NJ
Summary: Life on New Caprica is interrupted by a cylon invasion, and no one leaves unscathed. Kara, Lee with child, Sam and others. Spoilers and speculation from Lay Down Your Burdens, on.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I'm just so disappointed that someone else gets paid to play with these characters. Maybe someday we can trade places and they can sit at their kitchen table writing fanfic and I can make Lee and Kara get busy.**

**Spoilers: LDYB and very broad spoilers for Season 3. The rest is my imagination and will probably never happen - but how cool would it be if it did?**

**- Rebellion**

When she woke up, the sunlight was streaming through the crack in the tent flap and glinting off the gold band around the ring finger of her left hand. Next to her, her husband lay asleep on his stomach, his face turned towards her, his head cradled in the crook of his left arm. The matching gold band on his left hand peeked out from under his pillow.

Her heart swelled with love at this remarkable man who had given up everything he knew for her. She combed her fingers through his hair, her finger nails lightly scraping his scalp. He said something incoherent but didn't open his eyes. She smiled. Since moving planet side, he had become a heavy sleeper, so she increased her efforts.

"Wha' timeisit?" He mumbled.

"Early still." She said softly, still running her fingers through his hair.

He opened his eyes and squinted against the light. "Is something wrong?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

She shook her head.

He glanced at the crib in the corner. "Is Thea ok?" He asked, looking back at his wife.

"I fed her an hour ago. She's out like a light."

He flopped back down onto the bed and closed his eyes again. "Why am I awake then?"

"I still can't believe we're here." She said quietly.

"It's a big change, isn't it?" He said cheerfully, but she didn't think he sounded convincing.

She shook her head. "You regret leaving Galactica, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. She looked at him, and he met her eyes briefly before looking away.

"Well, let's see," he started slowly, sitting up again. "I resigned my command, moved from a warm, comfortable battlestar to a cold, damp, desolate rock on the orders of a madman, I live in a tent, and I work as Head of Security for the President who is said madman…"

She smiled. "They gave you that job for a reason. You know what they say about keeping your enemies close.'"

"Right. That works both ways, so it's a good thing that _I'm _the one with the gun."

That made her laugh and _that _made him smile. Gods, how she loved that smile.

"But you weren't ordered to relocate. I was." She said, turning melancholy again.

"And I go where you go. Apollo and Starbuck, remember?" She grinned. Yeah, she remembered. He cupped her face in his hands and turned her face to him. "I would follow you into Hades and be perfectly happy, Kara. I don't regret coming here. Because you're here."

She pushed him back into the pillows and frakked him within an inch of his life to thank him.

-------------------------------

"Commander Adama," Gaius Baltar began. Lee had given up reminding the president that he was no longer a commander, or in the military at all, for that matter. It's what people were comfortable with, and frankly, so was he. 'Mr. Adama' just sounded weird. "I'll be in my personal quarters. Please be sure to notify me if anything important happens."

"Yes, sir." Lee replied from his desk. He heard female giggles as soon as the door shut.

Lee shook his head. The man was a frak up. He was completely apathetic to the settlers' problems and totally incapable of making a decision. And the vice president, Tom Zarek, was never anywhere to be found. Riots broke out frequently, and Lee found himself fighting off would be assassins on more than one occasion. Lee hated the man as a general rule but he envied him right now. Whatever he imagined Baltar was doing at the moment, he wished he could be home doing the same things to Kara.

He couldn't believe they were here either. Or more accurately, he couldn't believe that hewas here with _her._ She was supposed to be here with Anders. And she would have been here with Anders if he didn't decide to grow a set at the last minute and just lay his feelings for her out on the table. He was opening himself up to a world of hurt but he was willing to live with the outcome.

This time his bet, unlike the ones he made at the Triad table, paid off.

_She bounced into his office with a gigantic smile on her face._

"_The Admiral approved the SAR to Caprica, Lee. I'm gonna bring him home." She beamed._

_The sarcastic bastard in him wanted to point out that the Galactica had never been Samuel T. Anders's home but he reminded himself that his jealous streak is what sent her back to Caprica in the first place._

"_That's great, Kara." He choked out instead. _

_She bit her lower lip and looked up at him through lowered lashes. She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and he knew that she was trying to decide whether or not to ask him something._

"_What is it?" He asked._

"_Will you help me plan it?" She asked almost timidly._

'_Better yet,' he thought, 'here's my gun. Point blank in my chest should have the same effect.'_

_But of course he couldn't turn her down._

_He didn't approach her until after her briefing with the pilots, but as she gathered up her paperwork after the room had cleared out, he gently grabbed her arm. This was it. All or nothing._

_She turned around to face him with a serene look he had never seen on her face before._

"_What 's up?" She asked, smiling at him._

_He almost chickened out. He almost just said 'good hunting' before running away again. But he decided he was being ridiculous. He blew up a tyllium refinery, he went hand to hand with centurions, he commanded a battlestar for frak's sake. Why was he afraid of Kara Thrace?_

_Still, he had to close his eyes. The last time he did this, it went badly. He needed to brace himself._

"_I love you." He blurted out. "I have for a long time."_

"_Lee…" She started. He could hear the rejection in the tone of her voice._

"_Don't, please." He said, stopping her. "Don't say anything. Just hear me out, then go to Caprica and find him. But promise me you'll think about what I'm about to say to you while you're there." _

_She didn't say anything so he continued. "You once said that there was nothing between us, but I think you're wrong. There is something between us . I felt it when you kissed me that night…before you left."_

_She lowered her eyes. 'Maybe she felt it too.' He wondered. Hoped._

"_It's just that Zak, Anders, and Dee are there too. If we can get past them, maybe we can find 'Starbuck and Apollo' again. Maybe we can find Kara and Lee."_

_She looked up at him with tears pooling in her eyes. "Don't make me choose." _

"_I'm gonna make you choose, Kara, I'm sorry. I should have told you how I feel sooner. There are so many things I wish I had done differently and if I had, maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, but it is the way it is. But even if you choose him, I'll still be your friend. I just needed you to know how I really feel about you."_

_He raised his hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "Good hunting, Captain. Bring them home."_

_She had hugged him then, as was their custom whenever they said 'hello' or 'goodbye,' but this time it felt as if she held him just a little tighter and held on just a little longer._

_He ended his relationship with Dee that night. Regardless of Kara's decision, it wasn't fair to string her along. To his surprise, Dee was fine with it. She knew his heart wasn't with her._

_When Kara returned, he kept his distance, afraid that she would feel pressured. Afraid that he would look too eager. _

_She came to him instead. They didn't leave his quarters for two days._

_Then Baltar won the election and colonization began. Civilians were sent down to New Caprica first, then he started breaking up the military. _

_Settlement for military personnel was voluntary at first, then mandatory. Like a draft, names were drawn for people to go planet side. When Kara's number came up, Lee went with her. His father never raised an argument, though his disappointment was clear in his eyes._

_They got married on New Caprica with as much pomp as their new surroundings allowed. Thea came along nine months later._

Lee was smiling when Felix Gaeta woke him from his reverie. He hadn't even heard the man come in.

"Commander Adama." Gaeta said. "Where's the President?"

Lee smirked and pointed to the door. "Important meeting." He said.

Gaeta rolled his eyes in understanding. "Listen." He said, pointing up.

Lee's eyes went wide as he recognized the sound of Cylon raiders and he bolted to the window. The sky was full of them. He ran to the door of the President's private quarters and banged hard.

"Mr. President." Lee shouted. "We've got Cylons."


	2. Chapter 2

**Rebellion - Chapter 2**

Kara heard them too. After a year without any Cylon contact she had let her guard down, but now she jumped to attention. A quick peek outside through the tent flaps confirmed that they were Cylon raiders. She quickly grabbed Thea, wrapped her in extra blankets and headed to the school.

Laura Roslin was already there along with Maya, Chief Tyrol and Cally. This is where the underground shelter was. This is where they would hide those who were unable to fight while those who were able to, would.

The shelter had been Lee's idea and for once, Kara was thankful for his suspicious nature. He had always been against the fleet settling on New Caprica. His theory was that they only found this planet because a Cylon had jumped one of their raiders to it 'by accident' during the SAR to Caprica. Once settlement was ordered by the new president, Lee had suggested, off the record of course, that construction of a disaster shelter start right away. The Admiral agreed, and Chief Tyrol, who was among the first wave of voluntary settlers, agreed to oversee the project.

The shelter was dug in continuous rotating shifts by a handful of trusted people. It had a large centralized room with beds that could hold close to a thousand people with storage for food, water and other supplies and it's entrance was concealed by the school's plywood flooring. Once it was started, word of it's existence had been carefully and quietly spread. A year later, it was far from complete, but it was serviceable. And now it was going to be put to the test as people were finding their way to it slowly to avoid drawing unwanted attention.

Kara kissed Thea on the head and whispered quietly to her before handing her off to Cally. "Please take care of her. I need to see what's going on out there."

"I'll go with you, Captain." Tyrol said behind her as he threw on his jacket. Laura followed them outside as well and the three of them stood and watched as an army of Centurions marched toward Colonial One.

Kara hadn't even realized she was moving until she felt the Chief's hand on her arm.

"You can't help him, and we need you here." He whispered.

----------------------------

Lee took the spare pistol he kept in a desk drawer and handed it to Gaeta.

"Do you remember how to use that?" Lee asked. He'd never seen Gaeta shoot a gun and assumed that like most of the officers in the CIC, the only time he ever handled a gun was in training. Gaeta smiled and nodded in response.

Lee drew his own sidearm and went to the hatch of the ship, but he didn't open it. The Centurions had already surrounded them. When he walked back into the main cabin, President Baltar was there.

"There are two Centurions guarding the hatch. About a dozen more I'd guess are surrounding us and by the looks of it, the rest are already making their way through the town rounding people up." Lee reported.

"And three Cylon base stars have jumped into our atmosphere, sir." Gaeta added.

"What about the Galactica and the Pegasus." Baltar asked.

"The fleet has jumped away, sir." Gaeta advised.

"Why would they do that? Aren't they here to protect us?" Baltar asked, trying to use anger to cover his panic.

"They don't have the personnel to fight off three Cylon base stars." Lee growled through clenched teeth. "Most of the military is down here on your orders, Mr. President."

"So what do we do?"

"They could have easily annihilated us by now, but they haven't. So I guess we wait to see what they want." Lee said.

With that the front hatch opened and three figures entered. Lee recognized them immediately. Boomer, Aaron Doral and Shelly Godfrey. All Cylons.

Baltar stood behind his desk with Lee and Gaeta on either side of him, their guns drawn but not raised. A handful of the President's staff were standing behind them.

"Holster your weapons." Baltar muttered to Lee and Gaeta. The two men complied. Baltar then turned to their guests. "I'm Gaius…Dr. Gaius Baltar." He stuttered. "President of the Colonies."

"I know who you are, Gaius. I know very well." The one known as Shelly Godfrey replied. Lee didn't miss the long curious glance then the sudden look of understanding that came over the President's face.

"As long as your people offer no resistance, you won't be harmed, Apollo." Boomer said, looking at Lee with something akin to sympathy.

Realizing this was a version of Galactica's Boomer, it was all Lee could do to keep from shooting her like she had his father. "Don't you even…" He warned.

"How do I know that?" Baltar interjected quickly.

"You don't." Aaron Doral said. "You also don't have any choice."

"How did you find us?" Baltar asked.

"Oh, it was quite by accident, actually." Doral replied. "We were over a light year away from here when we detected the radiation signature of a nuclear detonation."

_The warhead that exploded on Cloud Nine._ Lee thought.

"Very well." Baltar sighed. "On behalf of the people of the Twelve Colonies, I surrender."

----------------------------

Leoben Conoy approached Kara Thrace as she stood outside the school watching the Cylon activity.

"Hello, Kara." He said, smiling friendly at her.

Kara automatically drew her weapon on him.

"You don't want to do that." He cautioned her, indicating the Centurions nearby who would easily be brought by the sound of gunfire.

"What the frak do you want?" She asked.

"Where's Thea?" He asked casually.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, shaking her head. She hoped her bluff was good enough.

"Kara," Leoben cajoled. "We know about the child." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You think we made it impossible for you to conceive a child," he continued, "when in fact we made it _possible_ for you to conceive a child."

"No." She whispered.

"Yes." He retorted. "The child of Starbuck and Apollo is a Cylon."

A guttural scream escaped her and she threw herself at him, tackling him to the ground, her hands wrapped around his throat. The commotion drew the attention of several Centurions that turned and aimed their weapons at her. Leoben waved them away.

"Deep down inside yourself, you know I'm right." He gasped.

"I don't know any such thing." She spat.

"Yes, you do." He insisted.

Slowly, Kara's face twisted into pain and grief. What he said made sense. She had thought that the Cylons on Caprica had taken her ovaries for their farms. She never thought she could have conceived a child and she and Lee saw Thea as a miracle. Now she was being told her child - Lee's child - was a…a….she refused to form the thought.

She relaxed her grip on his throat and collapsed onto his chest, heaving sobs escaping her. She didn't resist when he picked her up and carried her to the tent she shared with Lee.


	3. Chapter 3

**- Rebellion, Chapter 3**

Kara whimpered and rolled over, searching for the comfort of Lee's arms. He would make the bad dream she'd just had go away. He always did.

Her hands searched his side of the bed but couldn't find him, so she opened her eyes.

His side of the bed was empty, but the room wasn't.

"Lee?" She questioned, trying to get her eyes to focus. But even blurred, she could tell the other person in the room wasn't Lee. This person was taller, leaner and his hair was lighter.

He moved closer and sat next to her on the bed.

"Leoben." She whispered. It hadn't been a dream. Her throat tightened again and she could feel tears burning at the backs of her eyes. It was incredibly childish, but she wanted Lee.

"Where's the baby, Kara?" He lilted softly.

She only shook her head, the tears threatening to fall if she spoke.

"She's a Cylon, Kara. You don't want a Cylon child, do you?" His voice was lilting and hypnotic. Kara found herself being drawn to him like she had on Galactica, but she forced herself to resist him.

"It's not possible." She said. "Her parents are human. She cannot be a Cylon."

"But she is." He replied. "Half of her anyway. You see, we replaced your ovaries with those from a cylon female. We were hoping to keep you longer so we could artificially inseminate you with the sperm of a cylon male, but you got away from us before that could happen. Unfortunately the result is a hybrid, but at least it was full term and survived, unlike Sharon's child." He smiled deviously at her. "It seems the secret might be in the human uterus. So now we know how to proceed."

"Is that why you abandoned Caprica?" She spat at him, rage feeding the tears that were now flowing freely down her face. "Because you ran out of human women?" Her mind flashed to the image of Sue-Shawn and the other women hooked up to machines at the farm.

"Kara, you think so little of us. We want to live in harmony with humans. One big happy family, so to speak. Our race needs yours to survive……"

----------------------

"….we just need you to accept our superiority and allow us to," Doral paused, "handle things for you from now on."

"Handle things?" Lee questioned. "Exactly how do you plan to 'handle things' for us?"

"Commander, please." Baltar interrupted. "I will handle this, if you don't mind."

Lee tightened his jaw. "Yes, sir."

Baltar turned back to Doral. "Yes, so, how exactly do you plan to handle things for us?"

"We require your complete and total surrender, Gaius." Shelly Godfrey answered. "We will direct every aspect of your lives."

Lee recalled what Kara had told him about her time on Caprica and shuddered. "They plan on experimenting on us." He said to Baltar, then lifted his eyes to look at Boomer. "Isn't that right? Like you experimented on all those women on Caprica? Like you experimented on Kara."

"We know how you feel about your wife and daughter." She replied calmly. Lee started at the mention of Thea. How did the cylons know about his daughter? "We're not going to hurt them."

"That's because you're not going to touch them." Lee spat back at her.

"And if we don't give you our complete and total surrender?" Baltar asked.

"Then we'll have to do it the hard way." Doral replied.

------------------------------------

Lee ran the distance from Colonial One to their tent. Kara and Thea weren't there. Good girl. She had gone to the shelter just as they had discussed.

All seemed normal when he got to the school. There was the usual flow of people coming and going, people going about their business in the market. Except now giant chrome toasters roamed the streets, keeping a watchful red eye on the human population.

Laura Roslin greeted him at the door. "What's going on?"

"Baltar gave the Cylons our unconditional surrender." Lee replied, running his hand over his face. He suddenly felt tired.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"They say they want peace, but on their terms." He shrugged his shoulders. "They didn't go into details, but it can't be good."

She shook her head. "No, it can't be good." She replied. "And Baltar just gave it to them? An unconditional surrender?"

Lee nodded. "At least it keeps us alive a little longer and give us more time to sort things out. How are things going here?" He asked.

"We're almost full. People are settling in. Others are still coming." She said.

"Good." He turned to head into the tent. "I'm going to find Kara. Let's get the others to--"

"She's not here." Laura interrupted.

Lee's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Kara's not here. She dropped the baby off with Cally and left." She lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh gods. We thought she went to be with you."

-------------------------------------------

The settlement was only so large and the search went quickly. There was no sign of Kara.

Lee sat at the table in their tent by the light of an oil lamp, thinking. He drummed his fingers on the table, the rhythm helping him focus his thoughts. He should be at the school with his daughter, and planning the rebellion against the cylons, but he could only think of his wife. The rebellion was in good hands - Tyrol easily slid into the role of leader, with Cally as his lieutenant.

Kara needed him more.

Slowly the tent flap opened. In the dim light, Lee could only see flashes of blonde hair as the light played off it.

"Kara?" He asked softly.

"Lee."

He barely made it to the other side of the table to catch her as she collapsed. He lifted her easily and carried her to the bed, laying her down gently.

He looked her over. There was blood, but he quickly assessed it wasn't hers. She didn't seem injured at all. "Kara, what happened? Where have you been?"

"They want Thea, Lee." She whispered. "They want our baby."

"What? Why?" He asked, but she didn't answer. She had fallen asleep.

Lee pulled the blanket up over his wife and laid down next to her, pulling her into his arms. Tomorrow they would rejoin the others and figure out a way to get the cylons off their planet.


	4. Chapter 4

-**Rebellion, Chapter 4**

Kara pressed her face into Lee's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her movement woke him and he gathered her closer to him. His hands rubbed comforting circles on her back and he placed a kiss in her hair.

"You ok?" He asked.

She mumbled something incoherent then pressed her face harder into his chest. Her legs curled around his. Except for his arms she had rendered him immobile.

"Kara, honey, come on." Lee said, trying to gently peel her off him. "I need you to tell me what happened to you yesterday. Do you think you can do that?"

She relaxed her hold and looked up at him. "Where's Thea?"

"She safe. She's with Cally and Laura at the school." He replied, sitting her up. "Are you ok?" He asked her again, gently pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She nodded slowly.

His hand moved to the front of her jacket. "Who's blood is this?" He asked.

She looked down, confused. "I don't…." She ran a hand through her hair and shook off the last remnants of exhaustion. "Leoben's." She finished. Her face went blank as her mind went back over the events of the past twenty four hours. "It's Leoben's. He wanted me to tell him where Thea was. I said I would take him to her, but if he was going to take her, he had to take me too."

The look of concern deepened on Lee's face.

"I lead him to the river. Then I killed him." She started rubbing at the blood stains on her right hand with her left. "He'll come back. Or they'll send someone else. It's just a matter of time."

Lee grabbed her hands, more to stop her frantic rubbing than to get her attention, but his gesture managed both. She seemed to snap back to the present.

"Why do the cylons want Thea, Kara?"

Panic started to boil deep in her stomach. She loved this man with her whole heart. She couldn't break his by telling him his daughter was a cylon half breed. That she was the successful outcome of their freakish experiments.

But since they had officially become a couple, she had never lied to him either. And she wasn't going to start now.

She took a deep breath before she started. "They seem to think that our daughter is a result of what they did to me back on Caprica."

"How is that possible?" He asked. "You didn't get pregnant until over a year later."

She shook her head. This wasn't going to be easy, but he had a right to know. She slowly related her encounter with Leoben to Lee, from the second the cylon approached her outside the school to the second she thrust Lee's grandfather's fountain pen into it's neck, severing the jugular vein.

Lee pulled her into a hug and held her tight. "I'm so sorry, Kara." He sighed into her hair. "I should have been there for you. Hell, I should have kept you from going back to Caprica to begin with. Then none of this would have happened."

She pulled away and pressed her fingers to his lips. "Don't." She whispered. "Don't do that to yourself. If it wasn't for what happened on Caprica, we wouldn't have her."

She pulled her eyes away from his and stared down at her hands. "Do you believe him?" She asked quietly.

Lee lifted her chin and forced her to look at him. "No." He said plainly. "She's ours and she's human. End of story."

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you." She whispered.

---------------------

The sun was out when they exited their tent. The rare occurrence had brought everyone out of their homes. Children were playing in the streets while their parents wandered the market.

Kara and Lee strolled languidly through town on their way to the school. Not only did they not wish to draw attention to themselves by rushing, they were trying to gather as much information about their new situation as they could. They still only knew seven of the twelve cylon models. Those seven were easily identifiable among the humans. Copies of the same models could be seen gathered in small groups. Still only seven models though. The other five were still unknown.

When Kara had brought the Caprica survivors back to the fleet and moved in with Lee, Samuel Anders had moved to one of the civilian ships and taken up with Jean Barolay, a fiery read head that had been part of his resistance movement. The two of them now headed up what passed on New Caprica as a civilian police force. Sam's office reported directly to Lee and over time the two had put aside their rivalry and become friends.

Sam called out to them as they passed the pyramid court. He doubled over coughing before jogging over to them.

"Are you all right?" Lee asked.

Sam nodded. "Rough game." He said shaking Lee's hand and trying to make their meeting seem casual to anyone who may be watching. "Listen," he said more softly, "we got a missing persons report this morning. Female, child bearing age. Just one, but it's still early."

Kara's grip tightened on Lee's hand, and he gave her a quick squeeze back for reassurance.

"What have you found out?" Lee asked, knowing full well Sam had started gathering information on the cylons the minute they landed.

"There are a dozen heavy raiders about 10 clicks east of the settlement set up as a base camp." He replied. "It's out in the open and impossible to get close to, but we can see that they've got it set up with dradis and ground to air missile launchers."

"Great." Lee sighed. "Let me know what else you find out. And take care of that cough." He said as Sam doubled over again.

Kara rubbed Sam's back until his fit subsided. "We're going past Cottle's tent. We'll ask him to look in on you. I think you might need medicine."

"I'm ok, really." Sam replied.

"Yeah, well I don't believe you, so expect him."

Sam winked at Kara then turned to Lee. "I'll catch up with you later."

"So, were you practicing your mothering skills just now or should I be worried?" Lee asked as they walked away. There was a twinkle in his eyes, but Kara tensed for a confrontation anyway.

"You're kidding, right?" She countered.

"About your mothering skills? No. I think you need all the practice you can get." He chuckled as he ducked to avoid the hand that shot out toward the back of his head.

"You're lucky I love you." She said, but as Lee moved back in step with her she grabbed his ear and twisted it. "Now take it back."

"Ow. Kara! Come on that hurts." He said, bent over in pain and laughing.

"Take it back, Adama." She threatened.

"Ok, ok, ok. You win. I take it back."

"Good. Now let's go start a war."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: To those who have been following this story, my apologies for taking so long to update...muse problems. I hope you haven't forgotten about this story. Thanks for reading

**Rebellion, Chapter 5**

"Look, Thea." Cally cooed as Lee and Kara entered the shelter. "It's your mommy and daddy."

Thea smiled wide and reached out to her parents. Kara reached her first and took her out of Cally's arms. "Hi, baby girl. Did you miss me?" Kara asked her daughter.

Thea regarded her mother for a moment, decided she wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, then turned her attentions on her father. "Daaa!" She cried out in her loudest voice, and reached for Lee.

"Well, what do you know?" Lee said with a huge smile as he grabbed Thea before she could squirm out of Kara's arms. "I believe my daughter's first word was 'dad.'"

"Don't get all puffed up, Lee." Kara said, biting back a smile. She loved watching Lee turn into the proud father every time Thea did something new, but damn if she was going to let him lord their daughter's first word over her. "It was probably gas."

As if to prove her mother wrong, Thea said it again, then reached for the chain around her father's neck and pulled his dog tags free from the collar of his shirt.

"Typical female." Tyrol said, walking up behind them. "Flirts with the men so they'll give her jewelry." He ignored the dirty looks from his wife and Starbuck and gave Thea a soft pat on the head.

"Any luck getting Galactica or Pegasus on the radio?" Lee asked.

"Nope. They're still out of range." Tyrol replied. "We are getting some sort of garble from the Cylons, though." When Lee raised an eyebrow, Tyrol added, "Nothing we can make out, but we're working on it."

"Sam found their camp outside town. They have enough firepower to take out Galactica and Pegasus if they jump back." Lee said. "We need to take those out."

Tyrol shook his head. "It's not so easy, Commander. The toasters are raiding homes and killing anyone they find with guns - making examples out of them. We've started making arrangements to hide what we have in the temple. The cylons won't go there. But we need to lay low for a while."

"Do you really think your father would risk the fleet to save a handful of people, anyway." Laura asked.

Lee only smiled.

------------------------------

They had sat at the makeshift war table for hours working out a plan for the resistance and Kara was exhausted. Lee had fallen asleep trying to put Thea down and the two of them were sound asleep on a cot.

She tossed and turned on the cot next to theirs but sleep refused to come. Finally she threw on her jacket, wrote a quick note to Lee, and went for a walk.

------------------------

She stood outside of Sam's tent for what seemed like an eternity. She heard him cough deeply several times, but no other sounds emanated from the tent. Convinced that Jean wasn't in there with him, Kara poked her head inside.

Sam was sitting up in bed.

"Where's Jean?" Kara asked.

Sam shook his head, and Kara was sure she saw something change in his eyes briefly before he looked at her. "Not sure. She was working on the power station for the new city, but she was supposed to be back this morning." He started coughing again and Kara walked over to the bed and sat down next to him.

"Was Cottle here?"

Sam nodded. "He says it's pneumonia, and all the antibiotics jumped away with the fleet."

Kara shook her head. "You shouldn't be alone. Try to get some rest. I'll make coffee or something."

"What about you?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."

"And ended up here."

Kara walked over to the stove. "Yes. Don't make this more than what it is, Sam."

"What is it?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I just wanted to see if you were ok, and apparently you are because you're being obnoxious as usual."

He laughed at that which caused another fit of coughing. Kara cursed silently under her breath and returned to his side, handing him the glass of water that was on the bedside table.

"Sorry about that." She said, patting his back. It was then she realized he was soaking wet and shivering despite the heat in the tent.

"Frak, you're not ok, are you?" She pulled off his wet shirt wrapped the blanket around him. "Drink the coffee. It will help warm you up."

He took the cup from her with shaky hands and drank it slowly. "Thanks."

"Maybe the antibiotics are gone, but the doc has to have something to make you less miserable." Kara said, stepping back. "I'm going to go see what I can round up."

"I'd rather you stay." Sam replied plaintively. "Would you mind?"

Kara hesitated. "I really should get back to Lee and Thea…"

"Just for a little while. Please, Kara."

Kara nodded silently and pulled a chair up next to the bed.

-----------------------------------

Lee woke in the morning to someone smacking him in the nose. Not his wife, but the other blonde terror in his life. She had crawled onto his chest and was using his face as a baby punching bag.

"Thanks, pumpkin." Lee smiled at his daughter, grabbing her little hands at the same time. She had a powerful right hook, just like her mother. With his nose freed up, he could tell his daughter was in need of a diaper change.

"Hey, Kara?" Lee started as he sat up with every intention of passing Thea off to his wife, however, the cot where his wife should have been was empty save for a small piece of paper. He could read Kara's scrawl from where he sat and let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, stinker, it looks like your mother got up early and stuck me with diaper duty."

----------------------

Kara started awake and winced at the pain in her neck. She had fallen asleep in the chair next to Sam's bed. The light in the tent told her it was morning and a glance at her watch told her it was 0700. She was going to catch hell from Lee.

She glanced at Sam. He was sleeping peacefully and she saw no need to wake him. As she grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair, she made a mental note to stop by Cottle's tent to talk to him about Sam's condition.

"You can't go, Kara." The sound of a gun being cocked accompanied Sam's voice and Kara turned around slowly. Sam was pointing the gun directly at her, his face pale.

"What are you doing?" She asked calmly.

"They have Jean." Sam said plainly. "They'll let her go if I give them you and Thea."

"How could you.." Kara could feel her rage building.

"She's pregnant." Sam replied, his voice tight with emotion. "They'll kill her and my child and I can't.." His voice caught in his throat. "I'm sorry, Kara."

Before Kara could reply, a white hot pain seared through her head and the world went black around her.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Rebellion, Chapter 6**

Kara's eyes blinked open slowly. The soft sunlight streaming into the room made it harder to focus than just the pounding of her head alone. Still, she could tell from the feel of the bed that she wasn't home.

She tried to lift her head but a wave of nausea forced her to lay back down. She tried to remember what had happened. She had gone for a walk and…

Sam. That frakking bastard had sold her out to the toasters.

She sat up, this time ignoring the pain in her head and the nausea that went with it and tried to get an idea of her surroundings.

If she was a prisoner of the cylons, this certainly wasn't the kind of prison cell she was expecting. She was in an apartment that was nicely furnished and comfortable, in a building she had no idea existed.

She checked the bedroom windows. They were solid panes of glass with no way to open them. She was pretty sure the glass was shatterproof and even if it wasn't, she was four stories up with no fire escape, or any other means of climbing down. A quick check of the other windows in the apartment had the same results.

She knew better than to think the door would be open but she tried it anyway. The handle turned easily in her hand but the latch didn't give.

Locked.

She tried it again, shaking the handle frantically in her hand as if that would magically release the dead bolt on the solid steel door. When that didn't work, she punched and slapped at the door, screaming for someone, anyone, to let her out.

But no one came.

Exhausted, trapped, frightened and alone, she pressed her head against the cool metal of the door and cried.

Sam had given her up to the cylons, but what about Thea? How much had Sam told them in order to save his wife? Sam was an integral part of the resistance movement and Lee thought of him as a friend. Lee trusted Sam with a lot of top secret information and responsibility. He had no idea Sam was a traitor and she had no way of telling him.

She closed her eyes and silently begged the gods to keep her little family safe.

The sound of a key turning in the lock startled her and she stepped back quickly, painfully banging her hip on the metal railing of the landing at the top of the stairs that led down into the apartment.

Leoben entered and she leapt at him, intending to kill him with her bare hands, but she was still weak from her ordeal and he easily spun her around and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her hands against her chest. He leaned his head down, nuzzled his face against her neck and placed a soft kiss underneath her ear. Kara tried to squirm away but he held tight.

"Hello, darling. I'm glad you're awake." He whispered softly.

"Frak you." Kara spit, resuming her attempts to free herself but to no avail.

"Please calm down, Kara." He said, keeping his voice low and steady. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"Maybe," Kara replied through clenched teeth, "but if I kill you in the process, it will be worth it."

Leoben recoiled as if physically hurt by her statement and he turned her to face him. "You don't want to kill me."

"But I do. With every fiber of my being." Kara replied, her mouth curling into a malevolent grin.

"But, I'm your husband, Kara. We're happily married." He looked convincingly disappointed, and Kara thought for a second that he might actually believe what he'd said.

"You're insane." Kara said, suddenly afraid again.

Leoben shook his head, his eyes full of concern. "The doctor said this might happen." He said, releasing his hold on her ever so slightly. "He said with an injury like yours, you might be confused about where you were. Even about who I am."

"I'm not injured and I'm not confused." She retorted. "I know exactly who I am and who you are. I even know who my husband is. And it's not you."

"You're wrong." Leoben said as Simon stepped from out behind him and jabbed a syringe into her arm.

The room swam before her and as her body went limp, Leoben scooped her up and carried her into their bedroom.

When she woke, her husband was lying next to her, his arm draped across her stomach. She turned to him with a smile, but froze when she saw him. Kara's forehead wrinkled in confusion. She looked at the simple gold band on her left hand, then at the matching gold band on his.

Was this her husband? But this man was blonde. Her husband had dark hair, didn't he?

She suddenly realized her head hurt. Had she been injured? And could her injury be so bad that she would forget the man she was married to? And who was the man with the dark hair?

"Good morning." He said sleepily, his voice kept Kara's thoughts from progressing further. "How do you feel?"

"Ok, I guess."

"Is your memory still fuzzy?"

She rubbed a hand across her face and nodded. "I feel like this isn't right. That I don't belong here." She turned to face him. "And I don't…." She trailed off, turning away, afraid of hurting his feelings if she continued.

"And you don't remember me." He finished for her.

Her face flushed with embarrassment as she nodded.

"It's ok." He said, trying to sound cheerful. "The doctors don't think the brain injury is permanent, and I have faith that you'll get your memory back. If you don't, we'll just make new ones."

He leaned over her and kissed her gently. It felt good. Safe. And she returned it, gently raking her fingers through his hair, but as soon as she closed her eyes the face of the dark haired man flashed in front of her and she quickly pulled away. "I'm sorry." She said absently.

He ran his fingers gently down the side of her face. "No worries, Kara." He said sweetly. "You stay here and rest. I'll get dressed and bring you breakfast."

Kara sank back into the pillows and closed her eyes, but resting was impossible. Her mind was racing with too many questions. She could smell coffee from the kitchen and decided get up and join her…husband. Calling him that somehow didn't feel right.

The room spun only a little as she placed her feet on the floor and stood up. She pulled on the bathrobe that was lying across the foot of the bed, and slid her feet into a pair of slippers.

He looked up as he heard her slippers scuff along the floor. "You shouldn't be up." He said as he cut a grapefruit in half and placed the halves into matching bowls.

She slid onto a stool on the other side of the kitchen island. "I couldn't stay in bed. I felt restless."

He only nodded and placed one of the bowls in front of her. "Coffee?" He asked.

She nodded. "Please."

Kara watched him turn towards the stove to get the pot of coffee and she tried to pull up any memory of him at all, but couldn't find one. "How did I get hurt?" She asked.

"You fell off of one of these stools, trying to take down those curtains." He tilted his chin towards the window behind her and Kara turned to follow his gaze across the living room. "You always hated them. Anyway, you lost your balance and hit your head on the table. You had a fractured skull and was unconscious for almost a week. Yesterday was your first day home."

She absent mindedly raised her hand to her head. "Yesterday?"

"You slept through most of it." He replied. I was surprised to see you up when I came home."

Her brow knit together in concentration. "I don't remember."

He leaned across the counter and took one of her hands in his. "You will. Someday. I promise."

Kara smiled shyly at him.

"Here." He said sliding two small blue pills across the counter to her. "Take your medicine. It will help with all that." He waited until she had swallowed them, then took their dishes and placed them in the sink. He pulled a set of keys out of his pants pocket and walked towards the stairs. Kara followed him, more out of dependence than courtesy. On some level, she was afraid to be left alone.

When they reached the top of the stairs he turned to her and smoothed his hand over her hair. "I'll be back later. Promise me you'll rest."

She smiled softly and nodded.

"Good girl." He said as he kissed her softly. "I love you, Kara." Then he turned and walked through the door, closing it behind him.

"I love you too, Lee." She said quietly.

She heard the key turn and the deadbolt slide home, and as she touched the cold metal of the door handle, that feeling crept over her again. _None of this feels right._

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Again, thanks to RJ Steamboat for his sounding board and plot bunny abilities.

**Rebellion, Chapter 7**

Lee sat at the table in the school's shelter with his head in his hands, studying the maps, studying the reports, finding nothing and getting more frustrated by the minute. Finally, he'd had enough and swept the papers off the table. As they scattered to the floor, he rested his head on his arms.

Laura walked up behind him, carrying Thea, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her." She said, confidently.

Lee raised his head and looked at her with uncertainty clear in his eyes. "It's been two months." Lee said. "Two months, and we've got nothing. How could she just disappear?"

"I've been checking the prisoner manifests," Felix offered, "and cross-referencing them to the census. She's not showing up on any of them. Not even under a false name."

Lee looked questioningly at Sam, who just shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. I've got people looking, but it all has to be under the table now since the toasters set up their own police force."

"It has to be Leoben." Lee said. "He's sought her out before - keeps telling her she has a special destiny."

"Well, it's not like we can go around questioning every Leoben model. They don't like it when we get nosy." Sam replied.

"Kara said they wanted Thea." Lee continued. "Why haven't they come for her yet?"

"Why would they want Thea?" Laura asked, instinctively hugging the child closer to her.

"Leoben tried to convince Kara that Thea's some kind of a cylon-human hybrid." Lee replied. "He told her they removed her ovaries and replaced them with a cylon's."

"Is that even possible?" Felix asked.

"The farm." Sam replied. "Back on Caprica. They had her for a few days before we found her and she had that scar she refused to talk about…."

Lee shook his head. "It's ridiculous."

"They were experimenting on human women." Sam continued. "It seems they can't reproduce on their own."

"So they need Kara?" Lee retorted sarcastically.

"As far as I know, she's the only one that survived the farms."

Lee scrubbed his hand across his face as Thea began to stir in Laura's arms.

"I think it's past this little one's bed time." She whispered.

Lee stood up and reached out his hands. "Here, let me take her."

Thea wrapped her little arms around her father's neck and rested her cheek against his shoulder.

"Come on, sweetheart." Lee said, placing a kiss on his daughter's head. "Let's get you to bed."

Lee placed her gently on the cot and pulled the blanket over her.

"Meee?" Thea cried sleepily as she looked at him with big blue eyes. She had eyes like his, but the rest of her was pure Kara - all wild blonde hair and saucy attitude. Lee had to swallow back the lump in his throat that the memory of his wife created as he rubbed small circles on his daughter's stomach to soothe her to sleep.

"Soon, baby. Mommy will be here soon." He watched as she lost her struggle to keep her eyes open, then waited until her breathing evened out and slowed before he stood up to continue the search for Kara.

As he gave Thea one last look, gunfire erupted behind him and he turned quickly. Centurions were coming through the back entrance. The escape tunnel dug specifically to have a second exit, should the entrance through the school become compromised - and only the people who created the shelter knew about it. The cylons were firing freely, killing as many people as possible. It was a massacre - and they had never seen it coming.

Lee caught Laura's eye over a panicking crowd. "Get them out the front." He shouted, picking up his now awake and screaming daughter. Laura nodded and turned to usher a handful of people towards the entrance to the school.

As he moved to pass Thea off to safety, something slammed into his chest, and he felt the air being ripped from his lungs. Laura and Tyrol were the closest, but their backs were to him as they directed people through the melee. He attempted to call to them, but he couldn't draw the breath to speak above a whisper. He took a step forward but it was like trying to move through quicksand. Ringing in his ears drowned out the gunfire and screaming and his vision blurred.

He had to protect Thea. Get her to safety.

He managed another step forward before the room went black.

-------------

Those who had made it out, had scattered. Some of Sam's 'team' had stayed behind as well as some of Galactica's former crew until things fell under control and the centurions retreated.

Sam ushered Laura and Cally with baby Nicholas out of the middle of the street and watched as the centurions left and the skin jobs entered the tent.

"What do they want?" Cally asked, trying to quiet her fidgeting child.

"Information most likely." Tyrol said, walking up behind them. "They're just gonna find a bunch of maps and stuff. Nothing too condemning, but I'm sure they know who we are. It's only a matter of time before they start rounding us up for questioning."

"How did they know?" Laura asked. "How did they know about the shelter under the school?"

"Somebody had to tell them." Tyrol replied. "Great. Now we have to figure out who's leaking information to the toasters."

"Lee." Sam mumbled.

Laura turned to him angrily. "I don't believe that for a minute."

Her response took him off guard. He had been concentrating on watching the activity around the school and hadn't been paying full attention to their conversation. "What? No." He sputtered. "I mean, he's not here. Where is he?"

--------------------

Thea whimpered as she crawled closer to her father and sat next to him. When he didn't move, she tugged at his sleeve. "Da?" she cried sadly.

She reached over and touched his face, leaving streaks of blood on his cheek. "Deee." She said in a more commanding tone.

Lee turned his head painfully and looked at his daughter. She was covered in blood, and he reached weakly up to touch her, running his hand systematically over her body to check for any sign of injury. When he got to her belly, he tickled her and she giggled and grabbed his finger. Lee let out a sigh of relief that she was unharmed.

"Lucky, just like your mother." He croaked, but speaking irritated his dry throat and he broke into a fit of coughing which sent a blinding pain through his body. Lee's eyes rolled back into his head as his body went limp.

Thea grabbed her father's finger again and shook it, banging Lee's hand against her leg, wanting him to play with her again. "Da Da Da Da Da." she repeated, but Lee never stirred. Finally she gave up and pressed her body against his, laid her head on his shoulder and waited for him to wake up again.

As she began to doze off, hands grabbed her and lifted her up. She reached out for her father with a squeal of protest.

"It's alright, sweetie." Leoben said soothingly, giving the child a quick once over. Lee Adama had done his job well and Leoben almost felt sorry for him.

Almost. He knelt down and felt for a pulse, shook his head, then signaled to a nearby Five model.

"Come on, Thea." He said. "Let's get you home. Your mother is anxious to see you."

----------

Sam entered the tent just as the cylons were carrying Lee out. He didn't look good. In fact he looked…

Sam ran his hands through his hair as he looked around the room in shock. This wasn't supposed to happen. Kara and Thea for his wife and child. A fair trade. Innocent people were not supposed to die. "My gods."

"What are you doing here?" Leoben asked. Sam hadn't even noticed him walking up to him.

"I.." Sam glanced at Thea in the cylon's arms and began to reach out to her. Leoben moved her out of his reach and began to walk away, but Sam grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"My wife." Sam said. "I gave you what you asked for, now I want my wife back."

"Of course." Leoben said calmly. "But unfortunately, she was caught trying to escape our holding facility and was executed."

"What?" Sam felt as if the ground had opened up beneath him. Had the cylon just told him that Jean was dead?

"The guards were acting on standing orders to execute any prisoner who attempted to escape. I am sorry." Leoben said as he began to walk away.

Sam started after him, but strong hands held him back. Men in uniforms and black ski masks. New Caprica Police. "I'm sorry Sam," One of the said as they cuffed his hands behind his back, "you're under arrest."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Rebellion - Chapter 8**

Kara heard the front door open and her stomach twisted nervously. Lee - no, Leoben, she corrected herself - was bringing their daughter home for the first time since her accident.

She'd been remembering an infant girl with blonde hair for days, and when she finally got up the nerve to ask Leoben about her, he had told her about their child. She'd been angry with him at first for not telling her about Thea from the beginning, but he had explained that she needed time to recover and get used to things before having to deal with an infant. In the end, she had agreed with him, grateful that at least one of her 'memories' turned out to be real.

She watched as her husband descended the stairs with their daughter in his arms. She was bigger than Kara thought she remembered her, though she figured that was to be expected - she hadn't seen her in almost two months.

Leoben whispered something in the child's ear as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and she turned to face Kara. Her eyes were a shade of blue Kara had only seen in her dreams, and there was a sadness in them that no child her age should ever have.

Thea reached a small hand out to her mother. "Meee?" She whimpered, and a small tear rolled down her cheek.

A sudden wave of protectiveness overcame Kara and she grabbed Thea out of Leoben's arms. "Give her to me." She growled. As she carried Thea over to the couch, she tried to forget the pain in her husband's eyes.

Kara sat down and turned Thea to sit her in her lap. As Kara sat studying the child, Leoben walked up to them and placed a kiss on the top of Kara's head.

"I'll just let the two of you get reacquainted." He said softly. Kara smiled at him apologetically and watched as he headed down the hall and into the bedroom before she turned back to Thea.

Holding Thea steady on her lap with one hand, Kara ran her other hand through her daughter's hair, feeling its softness. She caressed a finger across her cheek and down her arm, then lifted her tiny hand to her mouth for a gentle kiss, but Thea had other plans. She held tight to her mother's finger and shouted, "Da!"

"What's up, kiddo?" Kara asked.

"Da." Thea replied, shaking her mother's finger.

Kara chuckled. "Da? I don't get.." Then she suddenly realized. "Oh. It's a game daddy plays with you?"

"Da!" Thea replied, as if that was indeed what it was.

"Ok. Ok. I don't remember it. Does he do this?" Kara broke her finger free from her daughter's vice like grip and circled it in the air, finally bringing it down on the tip of Thea's nose. Thea wrinkled up her face and slapped her mother's hand away.

"I guess not. How about this?" She asked as she squeezed both of Thea's cheeks between her thumb and forefinger. Thea gave her mother a dirty look and bounced impatiently.

"Not that either, huh?" Kara said. "Ok. One more try and if that's not it, I'll just have to wait until you're old enough to _tell_ me what you want."

Kara circled her finger in the air again and Thea watched it suspiciously, getting ready to turn away should her mother decide to target her nose again, but Kara's hand went down to her belly to tickle her instead, and Thea squealed with delight.

Kara smiled. "Third time's the charm." She said, doing it again for good measure, and Thea doubled over with laughter.

Kara turned to look down the hallway hoping perhaps Leoben had heard them and decided to join in the fun, but the bedroom door was still closed. Feeling guilty about her earlier behavior, she decided she should bring the party to him.

"Why don't we go see daddy, huh?" Kara suggested, and Thea's eyes glowed with hopeful anticipation. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

Kara stood up and began to walk around the couch to head down the hallway when Thea turned in her arms and pointed at the front door. "Da!" She cried.

"Daddy's this way, honey." Kara said, turning back towards the bedroom, but Thea leaned forward in her arms so hard that Kara almost lost her hold on her.

"Deee." She wailed, still pointing at the door.

"Daddy's not outside, Thea. He's in the bedroom."

Thea turned and glared at her mother with strong willed determination and Kara couldn't help but smile in amazement. "You certainly are…"

_The child of Starbuck and Apollo…._

Kara felt the blood drain from her face. Those names. She had heard them before.

"Mee?" Thea cried, but Kara didn't hear her.

_The child of Starbuck and Apollo is a cylon._

"No." Kara whispered.

Leoben caught both of them before Kara hit the floor.

--------------

Kara woke up in bed with Leoben by her side. "What happened?" She asked.

"You fainted." He replied. "How do you feel?"

Kara sat up. "Fine." She answered dismissively.

"Where's Thea?" She asked, looking around the room. "I was holding her, wasn't I, when I…" She trailed off.

"She's all right. I put her down for a nap."

She pushed past him to slide off the bed. "I want to see her."

"You should rest." He said, reaching for her arm.

"No." She shouted, pushing away from him. An unexplained panic churned inside her. "I want to see my daughter. Now."

Leoben backed away from her and raised his hands in surrender. "She's in the other room, but maybe you should calm down before you go in there."

Kara glared at him and stormed out of the room. She found Thea unharmed and sleeping peacefully in her crib when she entered her room. Her panic waned, though she had no idea what caused it in the first place.

"See, she's fine." Leoben said, slipping his arms around Kara's waist.

Kara turned and put her arms around him in return. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I've been terrible.."

"There's no need to apologize, Kara. It's been an emotional day for you." He kissed her softly. "It'll get easier, I promise."

"It doesn't seem like it." She said, resting her head against his chest. "I try, but I can't remember anything about you or our home. Not even about our life together before I woke up here."

He reached up a hand and smoothed down the back of her hair.

"But I remembered Thea." Kara continued. "Not completely, but I saw flashes of her in my mind. And then there's…." She stopped, not sure if she should mention the man she kept seeing as well.

Leoben lifted her chin to meet her eyes. "And then there's what?"

Kara shook her head, deciding it was better not to tell him about the other man. "Nothing."

Leoben sighed and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you for everything." She said quietly.

Leoben pulled away and cupped her face in his hands. "I love you, Kara." He said.

Kara opened her mouth to reply, but Leoben gently laid a finger over her lips. "You don't have to say it until you're ready."

Kara turned her face into his hand placed a kiss on its palm. "Take me back to bed." She whispered, looking up at him through long eyelashes.

Leoben raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

She lead him out of the room as her answer, yet later, when she closed her eyes as her orgasm consumed her, it wasn't Leoben's face she saw, but his - the man with dark hair and the gentle blue eyes….like her daughter's. And as sleep finally overtook her, her unconscious mind whispered, _I'm sorry Lee._

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Rebellion, Chapter 9**

Sam was escorted outside and around to the back of the school building by the New Caprica Police Officer. When they were safely out of sight of the cylons, rough hands pushed him hard up against a stockade fence.

"What the frak --" Sam began to protest, but he was pressed harder into the wood.

"I should kill you right now, you frakking bastard." The man growled low in his ear. "It wouldn't be anymore than you deserve for what you did to all those people in there."

"I didn't --"

"Don't even try to play innocent. I heard you talking to that skin job and I know what you did. You told the cylons about the shelter."

"So does that make you better than me?" Sam asked in reply. "What's it like being on their payroll? Are the benefits worth betraying your race?"

The man spun Sam around to face him, then aimed his gun at him to keep him from running. With his free hand he removed the ski mask they all wore to hide their identities.

"Duck?" Sam exclaimed, somewhat relieved to see the former pilot that had joined the New Caprica Police in order to give the rebellion someone on the inside. But his relief faded the longer the man held his gun on him.

"I served under Lee Adama. He was a good man. There were a lot of very decent people in that room." Duck snarled, pressing his gun to Sam's forehead. "So, tell me why I shouldn't pull this trigger."

"They had Jean." Sam explained fretfully. "I had to give them Kara and Thea to get her back." He looked pleadingly at the man. "I never expected this." He said, waving his hand towards the school. "What happened in there wasn't supposed to be part of the deal." He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "But that's not an excuse. There is no excuse."

He turned and slammed his fists against the fence, no longer caring about the gun pointed at him. "Gods, I'm such an idiot. I actually thought it would be that easy." He shook his head in defeat, then squared his shoulders against his captor. "You can shoot me, Lords know I deserve it, or you can let me go."

Duck stared at Sam in disbelief. "Let you go. Why would I do that?"

"Because the rebellion needs someone to lead it. I owe the cylons at least that." Sam replied quietly.

---------------

Chief Tyrol quickly covered the computer with the tarp and began to light a candle at the alter when he heard footsteps outside the temple. They had hidden arms and equipment here because the cylons respected their beliefs and left the temple alone. But that was apt to change at any moment now that they were aware of the resistance movement.

He relaxed when Sam Anders and Felix Gaeta walked in. Felix walked directly to the computer, pulled off the tarp and turned it on.

"I just checked it," Galen said to him. "I'm still getting that garbled crap from the toasters. Nothing from Galactica." Then he turned to Sam. "What's going on out there?" He asked anxiously.

"They got Thea." Sam said nervously, unable to look his friend in the eye. "That frakker Leoben got her. I…I couldn't stop him."

"Where was Lee?" Galen asked.

Sam shook his head. "I don't know." He whispered.

"You don't know?" Galen repeated.

"He was gone." Sam replied. "The toaster had Thea and Lee was gone."

Galen stared at Sam incredulously. He had a strong feeling that Sam was hiding something, but he couldn't imagine what or why. "Gone." He repeated again and Sam merely nodded.

Felix watched the exchange warily from his place behind the computer when it suddenly came to life. He punched a few keys and waited.

"Oh my gods," he said quietly, and the other men turned to look at him. "I'm getting something with a colonial signal."

Sam and Galen ran to his side and watched over his shoulder as a message appeared on the screen. Sam let out a victory cry when he read it. "Well, frak me." He said. "It looks like the cavalry finally showed up."

---------------

William Adama stared at the models on the planning table. He had been at this for over four hours, moving them around the board, trying them in different positions, running different scenarios, and each time the outcome was the same. Five basestars against two battlestars and a skeleton crew of fighter pilots equaled disaster.

He swept his arm across the table with a frustrated cry sending the figures flying across the war room.

Saul Tigh walked up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just cut our losses and continue the search for Earth." He said reluctantly.

Bill turned and glared at his XO. "That's no longer an option now that the raptors have made contact with them. It's bad enough we jumped away and left them at the mercy of the cylons, but I absolutely will not leave them behind."

"You can't make this about Lee, Bill." Saul said sternly. "He's missing. Thea's been taken by the cylons and no one has seen Kara in months."

Bill shook his head. He didn't want to think that it was too late for his family. He had lost one son already and he remembered all too well how it felt when he thought he had lost Lee in the first few hours after the initial attacks. Kara had always been like a daughter to him. She made his son incredibly happy and together they had given him a grandchild who had stolen his heart. He couldn't just leave them behind. But it wasn't just about them. It was about Laura. It was about Chief Tyrol and Cally and their boy. It was about them and the other ten thousand survivors of the human race that had settled on New Caprica. Surely Saul realized that.

"You have a duty to the survivors of this fleet to get them to Earth." Saul continued.

"Yes I do." Bill said, fixing a stony glare at his friend. "And half of those survivors are down on that planet. We know their positions, we know their numbers. They're feeding us intelligence on the locations of the cylons. Am I supposed to just turn tail and run now?"

He took Saul's silence as his agreement and Bill nodded.

"We need to find a way to sneak in, so I think we're going to have to bring Sharon in on this one." He said, ignoring the disapproving look from Saul. "Have the Marines bring her to my quarters ASAP. Contact Commander Agathon and the CAG and have them meet us there."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Rebellion, Chapter 10

Lee woke up screaming with cold sweat running down his back and soaking his shirt. It seemed to happen more often these days. Perhaps whatever message his dreams were trying to send him were becoming more urgent. Or it just could be that he was just sleeping more.

The latter seemed more likely. It was impossible to tell the passing of time in his windowless cell. No schedule was kept. He ate when they felt like feeding him. They questioned him when they needed answers and they hurt him when he didn't give them any.

The last round of questioning was the most brutal. It was the tall blonde woman, Shelly Godfrey, as he knew her, though the others called her 'Six,' and that little frakker, Aaron Doral this time, playing good cop, bad cop. They had found out about the rebellion. They wanted the names of those involved. Were the insurgents armed? Where were the arms stored? Where did they meet and when and where was the next attack?

He was beaten for his silence, but he didn't care. He wanted the pain. He deserved it for failing to protect his family and everyone else in that shelter.

He took a deep breath and winced, bringing a hand protectively up to his side. Probably a cracked rib or two. And there was the bullet wound from when they shot him in the shelter. That hurt the worst. The cylons had given him minimal care after they captured him. They had treated him in their hospital then moved him here. Wherever 'here' was.

He moved his right arm to keep the muscles from getting stiff. Just like he had to do in physical therapy after Kara had shot him.

Kara.

He choked back a sob. It was too much for him to think about. Instead, he rolled over onto his side, pushing his now warm back against the cool wall of his cell, and pressed his eyes closed against the tears.

_"You're not giving up, are you?" _

He opened his eyes. She was standing in front of him, her arms crossed defiantly across her chest, her eyes challenging him.

Lee blinked. "Kara?" He asked, his voice trembling.

She smiled warmly at him and he fought for control.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as he lost the fight and tears started to roll down his cheeks. "I couldn't find you. I tried, Kara, I really did, but there was no information at all. And Thea." He cried. "I'm so sorry."

She knelt in front of him and ran her fingers down the side of his face. _"You were always the strong one, Lee. Stay strong for us." _

He reached up to grab her hand, but she pulled away. _"I can't stay." _

"No, Kara don't go."

_"I can't stay, Lee." _She whispered close to him and he could feel her warm breath on his ear.

"So real." He moaned.

_"I love you, Lee. We both do." _

"Kara." He said, pleadingly.

And then she was gone.

"No!" He screamed. And suddenly he was sitting up in bed again, cold sweat pouring down his back.

--------

Boomer watched her former CAG through the small window in the door of his cell. As he tossed feverishly and cried out in his sleep, she thought of calling a doctor for him, but then he settled down.

She watched him until he fell back asleep, then walked away.

----------

Kara flinched involuntarily away from the window as another explosion rocked the building. "That one felt closer." She said, feeling Thea press closer to her side.

"Damn insurgents." Leoben grumbled. "They won't be satisfied until we're_ all _dead."

Kara shot him a warning glare as she picked Thea up from her place on the floor.

"Sorry." He said, giving Thea a reassuring smile before looking back at Kara. "They're losing." He said bluntly. "They're out numbered and losing more of their people every day. It shouldn't be much longer."

-----------

"Their numbers are a little thin." Tigh said, reading off a recent report. "It says here that Anders commands one thousand one hundred and fifty armed defectives. It's a lot less than he should have if you count all the former fleet officers and enlisted available down there." He looked pointedly at the Admiral. "We'll be taking heavy losses. They mentioned a cylon crackdown."

Before Bill could reply, Kat spoke up, knowing that the Admiral wouldn't back down from this mission. All they could do was come up with a plan. "We should get a breakdown of available pilots in the insurgent group. Somebody's gotta fly those ships off the ground if we're gonna pull this off."

Bill shook his head. "Those ships aren't going anywhere yet. _The cylons have removed launch keys from grounded colonial ships. Location unknown. _Came from Tyrol."

"Can we manufacture new launch keys?" Kat asked.

"Forget it." Karl said. "The specs on launch keys are incredibly sophisticated. It would take weeks just to do the R and D."

"The best option is for the people on the ground to find the original launch keys." Bill said.

"Assuming they weren't already destroyed." Karl added.

Bill gave the commander a quick look. He knew Karl was just playing devil's advocate, but it was grating on his nerves.

"No way." Kat replied. "The cylons would want to keep them safe just in case they wanted to use those ships one day."

"She's right." Tigh added. "The keys have to still be there."

"We could make a weapons drop to the insurgents." Kat continued. "They know the lay of the land, they've been hitting the cylons in the teeth for months. Give them the tools and they can find the keys themselves."

Karl shook his head. "No. The only thing you have going for you is that the cylons reduced their defense perimeter to just five base ships. You put heavy weaponry down there, they're going to know for sure that we've been in contact with the population and call in ten more base ships, and then the whole plan's frakked."

Sharon had been quietly listening to their discussion. The ideas were all good, but in the end Karl was right. Any move the colonials made would only serve to alert the cylons. As the Admiral had explained to her, they needed to get in and out of there quickly. "I could go." She said quietly.

"Sharon, no." Karl commanded.

"Go on." Bill spoke over him.

"We use one of the cylon transponders to land a raptor on the planet and I get the launch keys." She said, cutting Karl off with a hand on his chest when he began to protest. "I can get into the buildings and access their computer system to find out where the launch keys are hidden a lot easier than anyone else can."

Colonel Tigh turned to his friend and bristled at the look on his face. "You're not actually considering this are you? She's one of them. She'll warn them we're coming. Give them our position…"

"That's enough, Saul." Bill ordered quietly. "I want to hear more."

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Real life turned tragic and I lost the will and time to work on this story for a while. The muse has been slow in returning and this chapter was difficult for me to write. However, here it is. My apologies to everyone who has been waiting for an update on this story. I hope you haven't forgotten about it. Now that things have started to settle down, I hope to be a little more consistent with updating.

Thanks to all for your support, reviews and patience.

Rebellion, Chapter 11

Lee had decided that Kara was right. The thought made him stop doing push-ups and laugh. He hadn't seen her in months, yet she was still telling him what to do.

The exercise was sending a sharp stabbing pain through his shoulder, and his lungs were burning, but he kept at it. He had to be strong if he was going to get out of here, though _how _he was getting out of here was still a problem to be solved.

He heard a movement outside his cell door and stopped to listen. The door handle moved slightly as whoever it was released the lock and he tensed as the door slowly opened. Someone was here to 'question' him.

But a familiar figure stepped quietly through the door and stood in front of him, regarding him nervously. Lee instinctively knew that it was Boomer, the raptor pilot that had served under him for almost a year before her cylon nature took over. This was the toaster that had shot his father.

"What do you want?" He asked through clenched teeth.

Her head snapped up at the anger in his voice and she looked him defiantly in the eye. "Don't forget where you are." She warned, but he glared at her, unmoved by the threat.

"I know you don't believe me," she continued, "but I loved The Old Man. He was like a father to me."

"So you shot him?" Lee asked sarcastically.

She recoiled as if slapped. "I didn't know what I was. I had no control over it." She said quietly. "I loved Galen, I loved Adama. The crew of Galactica was like a family to me."

"And now?"

She hung her head. "I'm not that person anymore. I can't deny what I am, but I do know that not all of us want to see the human race annihilated."

"Really?" Lee replied in disbelief. "I didn't get that impression back at the school when Centurions murdered all those people."

Boomer's eyes flashed with anger. "You have Anders to thank for that."

"That's a lie." Lee shouted. "He had no reason to --"

"He sold your family out to us to save his own." She interrupted. "We had his wife. He gave us Kara and Thea to get her back."

Lee's heart stopped at the mention of his family. "Are they alive?" He had to ask, even though he dreaded what the answer might be.

"Yes. But I don't know where they are." She responded, anticipating his next question.

He turned away from her in frustration.

"I hope you find them." She whispered behind him, but when he turned around to face her, she was gone.

And his cell door was open.

-------------------

It was night time. The prison was quiet and the other cells dark. The dim light of the corridor was not enough for him see how many were occupied, but he made a mental note of their number. Freeing the prisoners here and then blowing the frakking place to the gods was going to be a priority when he returned to the resistance.

A mumbled conversation stopped him just before he rounded a corner. He carefully peered around the wall just in time to see two Cylons walking down the hall away from him. Lee let out a silent sigh of relief and continued.

Except for having to bypass the guards outside the prison door, the rest of his escape was surprisingly easy.

Until he reached the streets.

New Caprica Police were raiding tents and loading civilians, dragged from their beds screaming and forced at gunpoint, into the backs of transport trucks. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Lee was pretty sure he recognized a few of them.

He followed the slow moving trucks, staying low and hidden so as not to be noticed by the NCP's who were following the trucks and making sure no one jumped out the open backs. They couldn't be taking all of these people to prison.

Lee thought about it. The NCP's didn't raid every tent. They didn't take every civilian. Even some who tried to fight them. They simply pushed them out of the way and continued to carry out their objective.

Which was?

Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek; they were political leaders, but Cally Tyrol? Why would the Cylons target her?

The resistance.

Except for Tom Zarek, everyone on that truck had some association with the resistance.

No. They weren't taking those people to prison, but Lee had a pretty good idea where they were taking them.

He had to find the Chief.

---------------------

Galen Tyrol's mouth dropped to the floor when Lee Adama walked into the temple.

"Well, frak me sideways." He began with a smile. He stood up ready with a friendly "Welcome back" and a thousand questions, but the urgent look on Lee's face stopped him.

"There are two truck loads of people - Cylon prisoners - headed up towards the hills." Lee said without preamble. "I think they're taking them up there to execute them."

"You saw this?" Felix asked, looking up from the computer.

"Just now as I was walking through town." Lee replied then turned back Galen. "They had Cally."

Panic spread across Galen's face. "We have to do something."

"We will." Lee replied. "Felix and I will get a team together. You need to get Nicky someplace safe then meet us back here."

Galen nodded. "It's good to have you back." He said, slapping Lee on the shoulder before he ran out of the temple.

Lee closed his eyes and groaned quietly at the pain the friendly gesture sent through his body.

"You ok?" Felix asked.

Lee nodded. "Let's get to work."

----------------------------

Lee had been right. The Cylons unloaded the trucks and were in the process of gathering everyone together.

They had split the teams into two groups. Galen and his team had gone further up into the hills, while Lee and his team stayed below. The Cylons were taken by surprise and the rescue was over quickly.

As the others assessed their losses and tended to the wounded, Galen filled Lee in on the rescue attempt the Galactica was planning.

"We were certain you were dead, and no offense, but you look like shit." Galen half-joked as they walked back to town.

Lee laughed softly. "Yeah. Better than dead, though."

"Sam said he saw Leoben leave with Thea and you were nowhere to be seen…" Galen stammered, "well, the only way you'd let that little girl go was if you…you know."

Sam. Lee's jaw clenched as he remembered what Boomer had told him. He wondered bitterly if his death had been part of Sam's negotiations with the Cylons. Lee imagined how easy it could have been for a bullet to have struck his daughter and he clenched his fists hard to control the rage rising up inside him.

"Where is Sam?" Lee interrupted, his voice rough, yet surprisingly calm.

Galen shook his head. "He said something about receiving intelligence on where the Cylons might be holding your family and he was going to check it out." Galen paused, visibly conflicted about the next thing he was about to say.

"What is it?" Lee urged.

Galen ran his hand through his hair and sighed in frustration. " I don't know exactly. He's been acting weird ever since you disappeared. I've had people keeping an eye on him, but he's been laying pretty low."

Lee gave the Chief a look of surprise. Maybe what Boomer had told him was correct. But if Sam had sold Kara and Thea out to the Cylons, why would he be searching for them?

"Did he say where he thought they were?" Lee asked, deciding to keep his own suspicions to himself.

Galen nodded. "There's a building outside of town, about 20 clicks north, built by the Cylons. It looks like a power station, but all the power for the tent city and surrounding buildings is generated right here."

Lee nodded. He knew the building.

"He took a team there." Galen finished.

"Is everything set for the rendezvous with Galactica?" Lee asked.

Galen nodded.

"Then get everyone home, Chief. We'll meet you there."

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Rebellion, Chapter 12

Bill tapped the console nervously. Though DRADIS told them that Sharon had made it safely planet side, she was ordered to maintain radio silence until she had the launch keys.

He was putting the lives of his family, friends and thousands of other people, in the hands of a Cylon - the very race they he was trying to rescue his people from -and he had to trust that her love for Helo was enough to keep her loyal to him.

"You're taking a big chance trusting her." Saul said quietly next to him as if reading his thoughts.

Bill nodded. And just in case things went wrong and the Galactica didn't return, he was leaving Helo behind in the Pegasus with orders to take the fleet and continue the search for Earth.

He was giving themselves eighteen hours.

It had already been five.

"Sir." Dee said, interrupting his thoughts. "Listening raptor just jumped back. Sharon's got the launch keys."

"Alert the CAG. Tell her it's on." Adama said.

As Dee carried out her orders, he lifted the handset and pressed the button to turn on the PA.

"This is the Admiral." He began. "You've heard the news. You know the mission. You should also know there's only one way that this mission ends, and that's with the successful rescue of our people on New Caprica.

"Look around you. Take a good look at the men and women that stand next to you. Remember their faces. For one day you will tell your children and your grandchildren that you served with such men and women as the universe has never seen, and together you accomplished a feat that will be told and retold down through the ages, and find immortality as only the gods once knew.

"I'm proud to serve with you. Good hunting." He lowered the handset back into its cradle.

"Begin jump prep." He said quietly.

-----------------------------

Other operations set to cause as much distraction as possible for when the Galactica jumped into New Caprica's atmosphere were well under way. Explosions were going off all over the city, making Lee's journey to find Sam a slow one. Still, he managed to move up behind him as Sam was barking out orders to his men.

Sam turned when he felt a presence behind him. Lee registered the surprise in his eyes, but there was something darker behind it. Something that confirmed what Sharon had told him was true.

"I'm not going to ask you why you did it," Lee said with a snarl, grabbing a fist full of Sam's shirt, "because frankly, there's no excuse. I just want to know why you're here."

"I made a mistake." Sam replied with apology, "And just because my family is dead, it doesn't mean yours has to be."

Lee stared at him for a long second, unsure if he should believe him, but either his wife and daughter were in that building, or they weren't. It was too late to explore other options. "So what's the plan to get in there?" He asked.

"I've got bombs and I've got guns." Sam replied with a crooked grin. "So I guess my plan is to cause as much damage as possible."

-------------------------

Kara jumped at the explosion and hugged Thea tight. "That one was too close."

Leoben nodded. "We need to get out of here. I'm going to throw a few things into a bag and we'll go." He wrapped his arms around them and kissed her on the cheek. "Stay here, stay low and stay away from the window. I'll be five minutes."

Kara sat on the couch shaking nervously despite her attempts to stay calm. Thea sat quietly in her lap, contentedly gumming her fingers. "How are you staying so calm, kiddo?" She asked her, but Thea only smiled.

Kara stood up and started pacing. It had gotten suddenly quiet outside. She strained to listen but heard nothing. It had been less than a minute since Leoben left the room but she couldn't stand waiting. "I know daddy said to stay here, but why don't you and I go see if he needs help, ok?"

She barely finished the sentence when gunfire erupted outside the apartment door. Kara dropped to her knees and huddled over Thea as the door broke open and a tall, dark haired man appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Kara?" Sam said in amazement as started down the stairs towards her.

She had enough time to notice another man enter the apartment before the first man was in front of her, reaching for her. "Kara, it's me. Sam. Lee's with me and we're going to get you out of here."

Kara started kicking at him, forcing Sam to back off. "Hey, take it easy. I've got Lee with me. We're going back to the Galactica." He tried to assure her, but she continued to fight him.

Lee reached the door of the apartment in time to watch his wife attack Sam. "Kara!" He shouted, but she ignored him.

A shot rang out a second before Lee felt a stinging pain in his arm. He had failed to notice Leoben walking into the room. He had shot at Lee – the open target – first, and was now making his way toward Sam and Kara. Lee fired once and Leoben fell backwards – a bullet planted solidly between his eyes.

Kara wailed and pushed away from Sam to huddle over the Cylon.

"Get her!" Lee shouted to Sam as he started down the stairs.

Thea had started to cry when shooting started and had progressed to wailing by the time Lee reached her. He picked her up, oblivious to her screeching and smoothed her hair off her sweaty forehead. "Hi princess." He cooed and her wailing decreased to hiccupping sobs when she recognized who he was.

"Dee?" She whimpered.

Lee smiled. "Yeah, it's me. We're gonna go home now, ok?"

Sam came up to them with an unconscious Kara slung over his shoulder. "Sorry. She's ok. It's just that she was fighting me. I had to knock her out."

"We've got to move." Lee said, checking his watch. He was still reluctant to trust Sam, but he couldn't do this alone. The new bullet wound was nothing but a deep scratch, but the original wound in his shoulder had never healed properly and he could feel an infection setting in. There was no way he was going to get Kara and Thea to raptor by himself. "We have ten minutes to get everyone rounded up and to the rendezvous point. Do you think you can carry her?"

"No problem." Sam replied.

-----------------------

The heavy raptor was there as promised. Sam gently placed Kara into one of the seats and jumped out to help Lee guide people on board. When the ship was full, Sam turned to Lee.

"You go ahead." He said. "Take Kara and Thea and get the frak out of here."

"What about you?" Lee asked.

Sam tilted his head in the general direction they had come from. "I've still got men out there. We'll get the next one."

Lee nodded. "See you around, then." He said. As Sam walked away, Lee doubted if he would ever see him again.

As the raptor took off, Lee took a seat across from his still unconscious wife, placed Thea in his lap and leaned back. The cold steel of the bulkhead felt good against his feverish skin.

Kara's voice startled him. "Give me my daughter." She said angrily and she reached forward to grab Thea out of his arms.

Thea squealed as she was pulled away from her father. "Deeee!"

"That's not daddy, sweetheart." Kara said, glaring at Lee over her head. Tears started to form in her eyes. "Daddy's gone."

Lee stared at Kara in shock. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"You should know. You killed him."

"Kara, that wasn't –" Lee began to argue but he stopped as he suddenly realized that Kara had no idea who he was. The Cylon must have brainwashed her somehow – made her believe that she and Thea were _his_ family. His first instinct was to contradict her, but certainly it wouldn't be that easy to get her to remember him. She already hated him for killing the man she thought was her husband and he didn't want to push her further away. "I'm sorry," he said instead, "but he shot me first."

She eyed the wound on his arm. "And yet you're still alive."

Thea squirmed impatiently in Kara's arms, demanding to be let go and forcing Kara to loosen her grip. Thea immediately moved towards her father and Lee scooped her up before she could fall out of Kara's lap. Thea wrapped her arms around his neck and settled her head on his shoulder. Kara tried to pull her off but Thea held firm.

"She's not usually this comfortable with strangers." Kara said, her voice softening as she watched her daughter's eyes close.

"Are you so sure I'm a stranger?" Lee asked.

Kara shook her head slowly. "You look familiar..."

"My name's Lee. Lee Adama." He said, offering her the hand that wasn't supporting Thea.

She didn't take it. But she didn't tell him to frak off either.

Lee supposed that was progress.

tbc


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: It's terrible that I haven't updated this story since January! I've used the r/l being hectic excuse before, but this has been a terrible year all round and the muse got fed up and moved out. Though turmoil still abounds, I've managed to squeeze Chapter 13 out of my brain and have even started Chapter 14.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story from the beginning and to those who have just recently signed on for the ride. You make me want to continue writing the story.

I'll shut up now and let you read.

--

Rebellion, Chapter 13

Kara avoided looking at him. When he did manage to catch her eye, her look was one of anger mixed with confusion.

Lee leaned his head back against the raptor's bulkhead and closed his eyes. He had imagined this reunion a hundred times since Kara had disappeared. None of his scenarios resembled this one and he was going to have to work hard to get her back.

Thea stirred in his arms and shifted, pressing herself hard against his injured shoulder. He groaned as he moved her to a more comfortable position.

"Do you want me to take her?" Kara asked softly.

Lee's eyes snapped open. She wasn't glaring at him anymore and it completely threw him off guard. Ridiculous questions raced through his mind; did she remember him? But, what if she didn't and he said something to piss her off or scare her away? He realized first that he had no idea how to reply to her and second, that his mouth was hanging open like a complete idiot.

"I mean, you look exhausted and she must be getting heavy." Kara said nervously, giving him time to recover.

Lee looked at Thea. She was sleeping soundly. He was sure she wouldn't wake if he moved her again, and he was equally sure Kara was anxious to get her away from him; the stranger that had killed her husband. He handed the sleeping child over carefully to Kara who visibly relaxed at having her back.

"She looks like you." Lee said.

Kara nodded. "Except for her eyes. They're blue. I have no idea where she could have gotten those from. Mine are - "

"- hazel, I know." Lee blurted out.

Kara stared at him wide eyed and Lee felt a hot flush creep up his neck. "I'm sorry." He stuttered. "It's just that I… I mean…they're not hard to miss."

Kara's defenses went back up so quickly, Lee could practically hear an iron door slam shut and its dead bolt drive home. The steely hatred was back in her eyes.

The rest of the trip was made in silence.

--

Lee helped Kara and Thea off the raptor and turned in time to see his father making his way towards them. "Dad." He sighed as Bill pulled him into a hug.

"It's good to see you son." Bill said, loosening his grip on his son and reaching towards Kara. She hugged Thea tighter to her and took a step back.

"What's wrong?" Bill asked Lee.

"She was held captive by Leoben for four months." Lee explained. "He somehow got her thinking that he was her husband."

"What about you?"

"She hates me."

"You should take her down to Life Station." Bill gave his son a measured look. "I want them to examine you too. You don't look so well. I'll come see how you're doing later." He smiled at Kara, patted Lee on the shoulder and disappeared back into the crowd.

Lee watched his father walk away then turned to Kara. "Will you come with me?" He asked, holding his hand out to her. "I'd like for the doctor to make sure Thea's ok."

Kara shook her head slowly and stepped back from him.

"Please." Lee begged. "I promise no one will hurt either of you."

Kara grunted. "You promise." She said distrustfully. "That's rich. The murderer promises not to hurt us."

Lee exhaled slowly, gathering his composure. "Listen. You're stuck on this ship, whether you like it or not, along with all these other people." He waved his hand at the crowd. "Now, we can be friends, and I can pull some strings to get us to the top of the housing and supply lists, or you can stay here and figure it all out for yourself."

Kara stared at him defiantly and squared her shoulders. After a brief second of silent deliberation she replied, "I'll figure it out for myself, thanks."

Lee swore under his breath and grabbed her elbow as she started to turn away. "Kara please.."

She wheeled around. "Do you honestly expect me to trust you?" She kept her voice low to keep from waking Thea, but her anger was evident. "You killed my husband, kidnapped me and my daughter and brought us to this godsforsaken ship. Am I supposed to be grateful to you? Believe that you have our best interests at heart?"

"You've got it all wrong."

"Really?" She said bitingly. "I can't wait to hear the truth then."

He bit his bottom lip, fighting the urge to spill the whole truth to her in one rambling run-on sentence, but with the mood she was in, he was sure that that was the best way to get her to leave for good.

"You know the truth." He said softly, holding her gaze and willing her to remember. "Deep down inside. I know you do."

Her eyes softened just enough for Lee to believe she was giving him a chance, but then they darkened again and her lips curled into a smirk.

"Well, I suppose once I figure out it out," she hissed, "I'll come back and we can have a nice little chat about it. Until then, stay the frak away from me and my daughter."

Then she disappeared into the crowd.

--

Karl Agathon sighed as he looked over the lists of names of the refugees from New Caprica and the recently destroyed Pegasus. As much of the personnel from his ship as possible had been billeted in Galactica's crew's quarters, and most of the civilians had gone back to their original ships, but the overflow ended up here in Dogville – his new command.

One name jumped out at him from the next to last page; 'Kara Thrace.'

"What the frak?" Karl mumbled and looked up to scan the crowd. Not seeing Kara, he checked the list for Kara's housing assignment and made his way there.

He cleared his throat loudly outside the canvas flap to her sectioned off 'room' and poked his head tentatively inside.

"Kara?"

She turned at the sound of his voice. The child in her arms immediately brightened and held out her arms to him, but from Kara there wasn't even the slightest hint of recognition. He wrote it off as shell shock and exhaustion. Most of the refugees were in the same state.

Thea reached for Karl and squealed excitedly despite Kara's best attempts to restrain her.

"I'm sorry." She said. "She has a thing for Colonial uniforms."

Karl smiled, leaning down to take one tiny little hand in his own. Thea smiled back at him, reached her other arm around his neck and pulled herself out of Kara's arms and into Karl's.

"Thea!" Kara scolded.

"It's ok." Karl bounced the little girl in his arms. "Uncle Karl and Thea go back a long way, don't we?"

Thea giggled and reached into the collar of his jacket to pull out his dog tags and jangled them in front of her face.

"She still likes the dog tags, I see." He looked to where Kara had been standing only a second ago, but she was now sitting on the edge of the cot, one hand to her temple, her face as white as paper.

"Kara?" Helo said, kneeling down in front of her. "What happened? Are you all right?"

She looked at him, eyes wide. "I don't know." She said. "It's just when Thea rattled your dog tags…I…I could swear I'd seen her do that before."

"Of course you did." Karl said slowly, frightened by his friend's behavior. "She used to do it all the time with Lee."

Kara looked at him confused.

"Lee?" She asked.

Now it was Karl's turn to look confused. There was no scenario he could play out in his mind that would end in Kara pretending not to know who Lee was.

"Lee Adama. Your husband."

Kara momentarily continued to look confused but then her eyes darkened. "I don't know who that is." She said coldly.

"Maybe I should take you to see Doc Cottle." Karl offered.

Kara shook her head. "I'd just appreciate it if you left us alone."

"Kara, I think…"

"Please leave." Kara said sternly.

Karl nodded. "Promise to call me if you need anything."

"I will Captain –"

"A..Agathon. Karl Agathon."

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

-Rebellion, Chapter 14

Karl poked his head through the flap of Kara and Thea's quarters. "Knock, knock."

Kara looked up from her sketch pad and smiled. It had only been a few days since they had been settled in what came to be called Dogville, but she already looked forward to the daily visits from Captain Agathon who, despite her initial cold reception, was determined to befriend her. He certainly made sure that the two of them had everything they needed to make themselves comfortable in their new home.

"Hey." She whispered, nodding her head towards Thea who was sleeping soundly in a small crib. "She's been fussy today, so I decided to put her down for her nap early."

Karl smiled at the child then turned his full attention on Kara. "I can't stay, but I came across this today." He pulled a cigar box out from behind his back and handed it to her. "It's some stuff I thought you might want to have. It might help you um..adjust…to things here." He ignored her confused look and smiled as he turned to leave. "I'll check in on you later."

Kara stared at the box for a long time, turning it over in her hands, but never opening it. It had a familiar look and feel to it though she couldn't recall owning anything like it before.

She set it down carefully on the bed next to her and ran her hand over it in slow circles.

She was afraid to open it.

"Don't be stupid." She mumbled to herself, but her hand wouldn't move to open the box.

"It's just a box, right?" She nodded in agreement with herself, turned to face the box head on, put both hands on the lid, took a deep breath and flipped it open.

The first thing she pulled out was a photograph of a painting on a wall - a circular pattern of colors that swirled downward into a spiral. Surprisingly, it was the very same pattern she had been drawing on her sketch pad before Karl had shown up. Confused, she put the photograph aside and reached into the box for the next item. It was a mild enough – a deck of Triad cards, followed by a cigar in a tin case and a set of military pins denoting the rank of lieutenant.

Next was a set of dog tags bearing her name on a chain with a man's silver wedding ring. She turned it so she could read the inscription inside. _"Love Kara."_

Her heart was starting to beat faster. Was it possible that in her life before New Caprica, she had been in the military? The dog tags certainly pointed to that. And who's ring was this? Not Leoben's. She knew that. Had she been married before?

There was still one more thing in the box and with a shaking hand, she took it out, hoping – and yet afraid – it would answer her questions.

It was another photograph. This one was folded in half so that the half facing her showed a much younger and smiling version of her in the affectionate embrace of a young, handsome, dark-haired man. They were wearing similar outfits of tank tops – the same kind she had seen some of the crew of Galactica wearing - and shorts. Slowly, she unfolded the picture to reveal another person standing next to them and she recognized him immediately.

Hurriedly, she threw everything back into the box, closed it and slid it under her bed. She drew her knees up and pressed her back against the wall.

_Lee Adama, your husband._ Karl's comment from their first meeting rang in her head. It didn't explain why she had her arms around that other man, but she had obviously known Lee before.

"What am I going to do?" She asked herself, but Thea's sudden cries put off any immediate decisions she had to make about Lee Adama.

--

Lee woke up slowly. The antiseptic smells, bright lights and muffled conversations gradually revealing to him that he was in sickbay. He had no idea how long he'd been here, but it was the last place he needed to be.

"Four days." Cottle's gravelly voice cut through the haze.

"What?" Lee asked groggily.

"You've been here for four days. I just assumed you were going to ask me. It's usually everyone's first question when they wake up here."

Lee pushed himself up but Cottle's deceptively strong hands pushed him back down. "No you don't." Cottle said. He nodded his head towards the intravenous bag behind him. "You need to be on that antibiotic for a few more days. You have a nasty infection from that gunshot wound in your shoulder. And if you were going to look for Captain Thrace, she's two beds over ."

Lee looked at him inquisitively.

"She brought Thea in last night." He waved his hand dismissively at the concern that crept over his patient's face. "Just a fever from teething. She's fine. But when I called Kara 'Captain Thrace,' she looked at me like I had three heads. It seems she has some holes in her memory."

"Yeah, I know." Lee replied and explained to the doctor what he knew of her captivity.

"I've run some tests on her." The doctor continued. "Told her it was standard procedure for anyone staying aboard Galactica."

Lee smiled, grateful for the good doctor's conspiracy. "So, they're staying here."

Cottle nodded. "In Dogville. Captain Agathon is keeping an eye on them."

"And these tests..?" Lee asked.

"She said she can't remember a lot from her past because of a head injury she suffered after a fall." Cottle replied. "I couldn't find any evidence a head injury, but I'm pretty sure that even if there was one, it wouldn't have caused her memory loss. It was most likely caused by the drugs they were feeding her."

"Drugs?" Lee echoed.

"A fine cocktail of tranquilizers and hallucinogens. Just enough to keep her confused and complacent. "

"So when the drugs are out of her system, she'll get her memory back?" Lee asked hopefully.

Cottle shrugged. "It's hard to say. I didn't see any damage to her brain on the scans, but that doesn't mean there isn't any. It's likely that she'll remember some things and possibly everything. How much and how fast, I don't know.

"You're right not to force it, though. Give her subtle clues and fill in the holes when she does remember something."

Cottle patted Lee on the shoulder. "Get some rest." He made one last adjustment to the IV drip and left.

Lee lay quietly until the sounds of nurses and aides running busily about their duties diminished. He wasn't able to sleep knowing that Kara and Thea were here. He wanted to see them.

He got up slowly, fighting the nausea the medication was no doubt causing and eased himself onto the floor. Pulling the IV bag on its pole beside him, he made way over to Kara's bed. The curtains were drawn around it, but through a gap he could see that she was sleeping. He watched her for a little while; her chest rising and falling in the steady rhythm of sleep. He fought the urge to wake her with a kiss like he used to and sighed deeply at the desperate feeling that came over him. "I love you, Kara." He said softly. He pulled the curtain tighter and went in search of their daughter

Thea was wide awake when he got to her crib and she squealed delightfully when she saw him.

Lee smiled. "At least one of my girls still remembers me." He ran a finger lovingly down her cheek and she giggled, exposing one tiny white tooth poking through the center of her bottom gum.

"Hey. There's the trouble maker." He said tickling her chin. "First you get teeth, then you start walking. Soon you'll be driving, talking back to me and bringing boys home." Lee's eyes grew dark with emotion. "No. No boys. And no driving. No growing up at all for that matter. I like you just like this."

Thea reached her arms up, determined to break her father's sudden melancholy. "Uh!" She demanded.

Lee reached in obediently and picked his daughter up, carefully cradling her with his good arm. He kissed her nose and she blew a raspberry at him. Lee laughed. "You didn't like that?"

Thea slapped both hands against his chest in response then reached into the collar of his hospital gown to pull out his dog tags. She jingled them wildly for a second or two before holding them to her face to study them more closely. "Dat?" She asked, holding the chain out to Lee.

"These are dog tags." He explained. "Daddy wears them for his job."

"Dee!" Thea squealed and threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

Lee held her tight. "I missed you too, Pumpkin. I'm sorry I let the Cylons get you. I should have..I should have…" he swallowed a lump in his throat. "I should have done a better job of protecting you and mommy. "

He kissed her cheek and laid her gently back down into her crib. "Daddy should go before Doctor Cottle finds me and yells at me." He scrunched his face into his best crotchety old man expression.

Thea giggled. "Deee." She said, reaching for his hand which was leaning on the side of the crib.

"What?" Lee asked, holding his hand out to her. She grabbed his finger and Lee understood. "Oh. You want to play? Ok. But just one."

Lee raised his arm high into the air and twirled his finger around in circles, continuously lowering his hand and finally reaching her belly and tickling it. Thea kicked her legs and giggled uncontrollably until Lee finally let up. "That's it short stuff. Now go to sleep. I'll see you soon." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I love you." He whispered.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Rebellion, Chapter 15

A baby's cry woke Kara. Or at least that's what she thought. Sick bay was quiet now. Then a giggle made its way across the room.

Kara smiled, thankful that if her daughter had to wake her up in the middle of the night, it was because she was happy.

She ignored the slippers at the side of her bed and padded barefoot across sick bay. Before she peered around the curtain that divided her daughter's crib from the next, she could see the silhouette of a person next to it. At first she thought it might be Doctor Cottle or one of the nurses, but as she got a better view, she could see bare legs under a hospital robe. A little closer and she could see short dark hair and broad shoulders.

Lee Adama.

She fought the urge to angrily chase him away - after all, he was a murderer. But then she remembered that picture she had found in the box Karl had given her, and she decided to watch instead as Lee interacted with her daughter. She couldn't hear what Lee was saying. He was keeping his voice low as to not disturb the other patients, but she could hear Thea loud and clear. She kept calling Lee "Dee," which was Thea-speak for "daddy." Again she pushed away the anger and let her curiosity take over. Thea couldn't possibly mistake him for Leoben. Leoben was tall and blonde. Lee was neither. And now that she was thinking about it, she couldn't recall Thea ever calling Leoben "Dee."

Lee was certainly very loving towards Thea and she seemed to adore him. Kara felt her heart twist when her little girl threw her short, chubby arms around his neck.

Lee put Thea back in her crib and kissed her good night and Kara watched as Lee twirled his finger through the air and then brought it back down to tickle Thea's belly. Thea's favorite game, that Kara herself had only just learned before they came here. How could he possibly know about that?

----------

Lee turned just in time to see Kara grab the curtain as the blood drained from her face. He managed to grab her in his arms just as her legs went out from under her, but she recovered quickly and pushed herself away from him, then turned and ran without a word.

Lee began after her, but realized he was still tethered to the IV. He pulled it from his arm and followed her. When he reached her, she was sitting on the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest and she was crying.

"Kara, I'm sorry." He said with a mild panic. "I didn't hurt her. I would never.."

"I know." Kara said cutting him off. "I don't know why I know, but I know."

Lee opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand to cut him off. She looked at him, her eyes bright with tears. "Who are you? No. Don't answer." She said when he tried to speak again. "I know _who_ you are. It's just that…I…I want to hate you. I should hate you, right? You killed my husband. Every nerve in my body tells me to hate you. But Thea….it's like _she_ knows you. _Loves_ you. And that…thing." Kara twirled her finger in the air in imitation of Lee's game. "How did you know about that?"

"I.." Lee started, but Kara held up her hand again.

"Don't speak." She commanded. "Just go. Please."

"Kara.."

"Please." She begged.

Lee nodded. "I'm sorry."

Kara saw the hurt in his eyes as he left and, she didn't know why, but she hated herself for putting it there. She curled up on her side and cried herself to sleep.

And she dreamed that old dream of the man with the blue eyes.

--------

"You've been moody ever since you left sick bay last week." Helo accused over his mug of coffee. "What happened?"

Kara shook her head. "Nothing."

Helo leaned back in his chair. "I know you don't remember, but you and I go back a long way. I know when you're bullshitting me."

A small smile worked one corner of her mouth, but then quickly disappeared. "Lee Adama happened."

"What do you mean?"

Kara raked her hands through her hair. "He was there in sick bay. I saw him one night with Thea. He was playing with her and….I don't know…He's just so.." She said the last part through clenched teeth.

"So..what?" Karl urged.

"So…_there_." She finshed.

"You really should give him a chance." Karl said.

Kara scowled at him. "I should give the man who murdered my husband a chance?"

Karl leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest. "Kara, by now I think that maybe you're beginning to realize that that dollhouse Leoben had you set up in wasn't real."

Kara gave a resigned nod. "Maybe."

"So if you were wrong about Leoben, maybe you're wrong about Lee."

"Doctor Cottle said Leoben drugged me and brainwashed me into thinking that that was my life, but what if _that's_ a lie." She sighed. "I just don't know what or who to believe anymore."

"What is your gut telling you?" Karl asked. "You've always followed your instincts before and you're usually right."

--------

Lee did anything to keep himself busy so he wouldn't have time to think. If he had time to think, he'd think about his wife and daughter who were right in front of him, yet out of his reach. Cottle had said to give Kara time. It had been two weeks, four days and approximately fourteen hours, and now Lee was starting to lose his patience. He wanted his girls back

He'd run into them more than a few times. Thea was always excited to see him and that always seemed to unnerve Kara, though she was getting better at hiding it. He gave himself hope that it was a sign that the Cylon's drugs were wearing off, but there was never a hint of recognition or memory in her eyes.

So, to help forget, he would work himself to exhaustion every day. Cottle wouldn't clear him to fly a viper, but he never said Lee couldn't run through training exercises with the marines or work extra maintenance shifts.

Despite being almost dead on his feet, he still couldn't sleep. That's why he was in his office in the middle of the night filing the stacks of reports and other paper work Kat had left behind during her turn as CAG – organization was admittedly not her forte. She had offered to help him straighten up, but Lee turned her down, grateful for the extra work. Yet, with the silence of the late hour, the mindlessness of the work at hand, and the lack of constant interruptions the daytime shift provided, he found that all he was doing was thinking.

And he thought he could use a drink.

He looked at his watch. Joe's would be closed, but the Officer's Rec Room was always open. Lee put the report he was about to file back down on its pile and left his office.

-------------

Thea was being fussy again. Another tooth had started to come in. There was no fever this time, but she refused to sleep. Kara remembered hearing somewhere that a car ride was good for fussy babies. She certainly didn't have a car, but she did have this huge battlestar. Perhaps a walk around its decks would put Thea to sleep.

Thea was too exhausted to cry, but she would whimper or whine occasionally. The few people Kara passed looked at her sympathetically. Kara merely smiled back at them, a little short on sleep, and more than a little exhausted herself.

As she passed the open doors of the Officer's Rec Room, a familiar figure caught her eye. He was sitting at a table with his back to the door, and he was nursing a drink. A nearly full bottle sat nearby on the table near at hand.

Karl had told her to follow her gut instinct and that was telling her she needed to know more about Lee Adama.

He looked as if he was deep in thought, so she cleared her throat quietly to get his attention. Still, he started when he heard her. "Mind if we join you?" She asked.

"Sure." He said, taking a second to recover and then gestured to the chair across from him. "Is she ok?" He asked, nodding towards Thea.

Kara nodded. "Another tooth is coming in. Not as dramatic as the last time, but it keeps her up at night. I thought a walk around the ship might help."

"The poor thing."

Thea turned at the sound of her father's voice and whined pathetically for him, tiny tears running down her face. Lee instinctively reached for her, but then stopped himself. "May I?"

Kara nodded and handed her gently over.

Lee dipped his finger into his glass, getting a little bit of the alcohol on his finger and rubbed it on his daughter's gums. He dipped it again and this time let her suck on it. She settled down almost immediately.

"Do you do that with all your dates?" Kara asked.

Lee laughed softly. "When I was younger, maybe." He teased back.

"But now?" Kara asked, and then noticed the ring on his left hand. "Now you're married." She added.

Lee nodded. "Now I'm married."

"Is she on this ship?" Kara asked.

Lee raised his eyes from Thea to look at her. "Yeah. She's on this ship."

Kara blushed from the intensity of his gaze. "It's none of my business." She said quietly.

"You can ask me anything you'd like, Kara."

"Ok. If you mean that, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you right now."

Lee nodded.

"Why did you shoot Leoben."

"He's a Cylon. Cylon's are our enemy."

"Keep going."

"He was holding you and Thea captive in that apartment."

Kara nodded. "Why was that important to you?"

"Because you're my fam.." Lee stopped himself. "You're my best pilot. And we never leave a man behind."

Kara was taken aback. "I'm a pilot?"

Lee nodded.

Kara narrowed her eyes at him. "But there's more to it than that, isn't there? It's not just because I'm your best pilot."

Lee cleared his throat nervously. "I didn't realize this was going to be an interrogation." He said with a smile. "And I'm not exactly up for one. I'm tired, Thea's out cold, and you look like you haven't slept in days. Why don't we continue this conversation over dinner tomorrow night?"

"Dinner?" Kara scrunched her nose. "You mean, like a date?"

Lee shrugged. "I was thinking more like an interrogation with food service, but if you want to call it a date, I won't stop you."

"What about your wife?"

"She won't mind if it's not a date."

"Ok. It's not a date then." She smiled coyly as she stood up and gathered Thea back into her arms.

"I'll come for you around nineteen hundred hours."

Kara nodded and motioned at Thea. "Thanks for this."

"Sure. Good night, Kara."

"Good night, Lee."

_tbc_


End file.
